#uterusdidelphys

I wanted to start blogging but didn’t realize or remember I already had an account. I am here, yet again, to attempt another blog. This time I wanted to blog about my life and what I have been through. I want to start from the present and move to the past, because the past is most crippling. I’m starting with a big one, not quite as recent, but one that constantly crosses my mind.

This blog is about miscarriage, baby loss, and messed up reproduction organs (and a bunch of confusing terminology.) Last year in June, I found out I was pregnant. This is the part where everyone gets excited and I ruin it by saying... The next day, I had sharp pains that made me worry. Because a history of possible endometriosis, my first fear was that I had an ectopic pregnancy. After a trip to the emergency room, it was too early to suspect an aborted pregnancy of any kind. I was told to follow up with an OBGYN the next week. Long story short, I went to a specific doctor for follow up where they assumed I had a miscarriage. I went through what I thought was also a miscarriage. I had extremely heavy pain, large tissue clots that couldn’t pass, and was hurdled over in the shower crying tears from pain I had never experienced before. As routine protocol, I continued seeing the follow-up doctor and taking bloodwork to make sure I didn’t need a D&C. To their surprise, my HCG numbers had risen. They told me I had gotten pregnant again (just two short weeks later) but I knew there was absolutely no way. I was offended that I had just cried in his office over the loss of my baby, had been bleeding since the night of my miscarriage, and did not want anyone near my body in any way, let alone sexually but he thought I was “lying” to him and could be “honest” about having sex so soon after a miscarriage. For weeks, I took bloodwork every other day and saw the doctor multiple times. I tried my hardest to convince him this wasn’t another pregnancy.  As a repeat of the “first pregnancy”, my HCG numbers weren’t going up normally. At one point, they declined and then increased again. I did my own research through Dr. Google and found many terms I wasn’t familiar with but one that caught my attention. At that point, my doctor sent me to a Gynocologist Oncologist. The term... a term I now will never forget.... “molar pregnancy”. My baby was never a baby at all, but instead a bunch of masses that sometimes can turn cancerous. I went through blooddraws every other day to once a week to once a month until I had 6 negative HCG levels. I had more vaginal exams than I could ever imagine for one lifetime and I knew all of the Quest workers by name, as they did me. I went through so much heartache and confusion while fighting with doctors who knew little about my conditions. While dealing with my pregnancy loss, I also found out I had uterus didelphys, another term I had never heard of until then. But I’ll talk about that another time. 

It's that time of year again. 

Miller Moth Season.

I know there's an appreciation out there for these things... but I think they're gross.  They eat your clothes, they cling to you, and they stink when they fry on your lights.  Quite honestly, they remind me of a not-so-fun time in my last pregnancy: Bat Season.  I don't think "bat season" technically exists... but it does in my house and it coincides with the invasion of Miller Moths.

We get dozens of Miller Moths in our house this time of year.  Thank God for my cat who likes to eat them.

Good boy, Cody.

But we get enough of them that we're not totally surprised if one flutters near our heads in the middle of the night.  At least that's what you hope it is.

It was about this time of year, when I was pregnant with Hannah that I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  That's when what is typically considered a middle-of-the-night nuisance, turned quickly into my saving grace. 

As I was returning to bed, Chris started swatting at what he thought were Miller Moths flying around his face.  After he hit one, we suddenly heard pinging noises around the room and a horrible clicking sound.  I don't know a lot about moths, but I'm pretty sure they don't make those sounds.  Chris freaked out and I made an about face back to the bathroom.  You can only imagine my immediate fear when my fearless husband, my protector started wigging out.  I'm pretty sure I made it to the bathroom in record time, turned on the light and there it was.

Ok, so not this guy specifically, but one that looked just like him!!! A brown bat! Sprawled out on my pillow case!!

Initially I had no idea what it was... I was still VERY groggy.  Great combo, I know: A panicked, groggy pregnant lady. Was it a lizard with wings? Some horrible mutant mouse? I screamed... and that's when my husband, who grew up in the south, yelled that it was a bat.  

The reactions then went like this:

Cooper, our Golden Retriever, ran out of the room with his tail between his legs.

Cody, looked like he wanted to pounce on his new play toy.

And I immediately yelled for everyone to get out of the room because "Bats have rabies!!!"

Chris wanted to capture him and let the bat out the window... but I wouldn't allow anyone near the creature for at least 45 minutes.  By the time he finally talked some sense into me, the bat had gone into hiding.  In my bedroom.  

There was NO WAY I was sleeping in there until that thing was gone.

That was Saturday night.  I don't want to make a long story longer, so here's the short of what happened Sunday and Monday: I googled and called every bat removal company I could find... in the middle of the night.  Turns out they are SUPER expensive, and it's useless to bring them out in the middle of the day anyway because bats are good hiders.

I then googled our situation.  Turns out, in the state of Colorado, if a bat flies in your bedroom in the middle of the night and you can't find it... you have to get a rabies shot.  Bats can bite you and you'd never know it because their fangs are so fine and tiny. The big question: Can you get a rabies shot while pregnant?  So, now my high-risk pregnancy had become riskier.

We had to find the bat.  I played the crazy, high-risk pregnant lady card and managed to get the Colorado Department of Wildlife out to my house to check for the bat, and possibly more.  He was useless.  Found nothing and said the bat was probably gone.  I didn't buy that for a second.

My doctors decided I should at least go to labor and delivery to get checked out.  Let me tell you, it's always fun when you can stump your high-risk hospital with a situation they've never seen before.  Apparently the email exchange amongst my doctors was rather interesting, and quite humorous.  At least they were able to get a hold of officials with the state health department (something I definitely couldn't do on a weekend), and we made a deal:

We had to find the bat by Monday at 1 p.m., otherwise the WHOLE family had to start getting rabies shots.

Even though it was up for debate whether myself or the animals got bit (my husband, not so lucky... he claims the bat performed some sort of sexual act on his head), we all had to get the shots because we were all in the room.

It was enough for me to know my baby could come early and possibly have problems because of that.  This was just something I did not need.  So, that Sunday night, my husband made himself bait.  

Armed with ski gear, tupperware, duct tape and an old kitchen towel, he slept in the infested bedroom waiting to hear the bat make some noise.  While bats are good hiders during the day, at dusk and dawn they get hungry and start to move around to find food and water.  The ski gear was so Chris didn't get bit again.  The kitchen towel was to smack the bat down to the ground... they can't take off from the floor.  The tupperware was to trap the bat, and the duct tape was used to tape the tupperware to the floor.

Here's what happened next according to my Facebook feed:

The problem was over... or so we thought.

Turns out, my cat is also a very good "Bat Hunter".

As he did before, he perched himself on the top of my husband's dresser, staring at the space between our fireplace and our wall.  We originally attributed this behavior to him going nuts.  But he saw and heard something we couldn't.  We had a COLONY of bats living in the walls of our house.  

You can't kill them, they're protected. And bats can get into a space the size of your pinky. So we spent more than $1000 for someone to come in, plug the holes and put in "exit" cones that bats can only fly out of.

We haven't had any problems since then. We made sure that bats can't fly into our bedroom anymore. But occasionally I do still find bat guano outside our home.  Google it if you don't know what that is.

I think my brain is finally functioning normally again! No food, and barely any water from 10 p.m. until 12:45 p.m. the next day makes for a seriously loopy pregnant lady.

Today's goal was to rule out gestational diabetes.  I really didn't need another complication on top of what is already going on.  While my doctor was convinced everything was fine... and she was right... I wasn't always too sure. My last blood draw came back with a level of 100.

So to review: my fasting level was 77, one hour test after 10 oz of nasty liquid: 136, two hour test: 111, 3 hour test: 100.  All falling within the normal range. Yay!  My levels were so normal, that my doctor even asked if for the 1 hour regular test if I drank the whole 10 oz, or just half like I was supposed to.  I mean, I'm a little nutty, but I'm not CRAZY.  Who knows what happened with that first test.  Maybe it was the two large breakfast tacos I devoured for lunch!

While today's lunch was no breakfast tacos, it was spectacular.  Well, anything would have been spectacular after going THAT long without food!  But I must say, my Reuben and sweet potato fries truly hit the spot.  And it was hospital food! Who knew?

I then went right back upstairs to ultrasound for baby boy's growth measurement.  He looks perfect, and is measuring in the 72nd percentile.  The last growth measurement had him in the 85th... so he's slowing down a bit, but still a good week ahead of schedule.  It makes me think he'll be a lot like his sister.  And that is totally fine. I was totally okay with delivering a not-so-large baby.  I am totally okay if history wants to repeat itself this time around! Ha!

Bonus... more 3D pictures!!! 

Foot in his face

Umbilical cord by his face

hands up by his face

I'm a proud mama! And I'm very relieved.  In all honesty, it has been a tough week for me.  It's really hard not to think the worst, no matter what anyone says to you.  I continue to learn to deal with problems as they come, but sometimes life can get overwhelming.  There were points this week where I wasn't sure I could handle everything.  And by everything I mean work, volunteering with my sorority, watching my child, cleaning my house, taking care of my animals... EVERYTHING.  I wanted to stop everything, curl up in a ball and cry until it was over.  

My hospital has this super cool online feature where I can log in and see my test results as they are coming in! Good thing I brought my computer with me today! My doctor just sent a note saying my fasting levels look great! 77.  We'll see how the next couple go! 

Traffic was bad... and I'm so not used to driving in it.  So I got here a little late.  I haven't had anything to eat since about 10pm.  My dinner? Corn on the cob, chicken parmesan pasta, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and a glass of milk.  Don't judge. 

I just finished chugging this: 

That's 10 ounces of syrupy orange deliciousness! (Not really) But at least it was cold.  I'll have the orange cold every day of the week over warm lime.  Even so, I thought I was gonna barf on the last sip.  

They've already drawn my blood once for my fasting level.... and now I wait an hour for them to draw my blood again.  I'll actually get my blood drawn 3 more times.  It won't be until 12:30 that I can eat. 

While I'm here, I get a growth scan today! Yay! That means I get to see my baby.  And we'll get to see exactly how big he is.

It's been an emotional week.  One that has me a little concerned about my mental state.  Sometimes I feel like I don't know if I can do this.  Other times, I'm ok.